On the Night Before
by Regency
Summary: AU. They locked themselves out of the house on Christmas Eve. It only got better from there.  Written for the 2010 Sam/Jack Secret Santa Exchange. Teamfic with a side of ship.


Author: Regency

Title: On the Night Before

Pairing: Sam/Jack established

Contains: Angst, Dry Humor, Established Romance, Friendship, Teamfic, AU

Spoilers: slight ones for _Grace_ and _Heroes pt. II_, but takes place before the end of season seven. Basically exists in a vacuum.

Rating: G

Word count: ~5,875

Summary: They locked themselves out of the house for Christmas. It only got better from there.

Author's Notes: Written for Karuri for Sam/Jack Secret Santa 2010. Sorry I didn't get this to you before Christmas or New Year's, or within the first week of the year. I hope you can enjoy it anyway.

Prompt: Humor, Teamfic with some ship. Hammond and Cassie if possible

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters recognizable as being from _Stargate SG-1_. They are the property of their actors, producers, writers, and studios, not me. No copyright infringement was intended and no money was made in the writing or distribution of this story. It was good, clean fun.

~!~

They locked themselves out of Jack's house for Christmas. Yeah, it only got better from there. Somehow, under the thrall of eggnog and filled stomachs, going outside to have a snowball fight had seemed like a good idea. Then, of course, the snow Jaffa, had happened. Everyone had brought their jackets and snow boots, but no one had brought their keys.

Sam would have picked the lock, gladly picked the lock, but her lock pick was in her other jacket, the one that was currently tucked away with her other quickly-concealed belongings in Jack's bedroom closet. Sam knew it was getting ridiculous, the way they were hiding from their closest friends, but she wasn't ready to share this with Teal'c and Daniel yet; she was having a hard enough time sharing it with Cassie.

Cassie wasn't stupid, she'd figured out pretty fast that the time Sam was spending with her and Jack wasn't purely for her benefit and called her on it. Jack was the closest thing she'd had to a father since she'd lost her birth parents on Hanka, so having him around with Sam now she'd lost Janet was a comfort she was more than grateful for. It made sense. What didn't make sense, she'd argued, was having him around _constantly_. Decorating, gift-wrapping, and cooking. For the entire two weeks before Christmas, there wasn't a single day that Cassie didn't see Jack, or, rather, that Cassie didn't see Jack and Sam together. As far as she was concerned, that wasn't the status quo, unless the status quo had changed.

Well, Sam'd had to tell her, it had definitely changed, and after Sam and Jack themselves, Cassie was the first to know. Jack O'Neill was a part of her life now in an entirely new, entirely inevitable way. She had waited nearly a decade to have him and literally the only thing that could have put a damper on that happiness was Cassie's rejection.

By the time Cassie knew the truth, Sam didn't remember why she'd ever worried. She was her mother's daughter through and through and there'd been no greater advocate of their feelings than Janet. As a fellow officer and base CMO, she'd been firm in her belief that they shouldn't pursue whatever they'd left in that 'damned room' unless they were willing to sacrifice everything, all they'd worked for. As Sam's best friend and Jack's loving tormentor, she'd always voiced concern that they'd run out of Hail Marys before they got the chance. It caused Sam no end of sadness to realize that Janet had run out of miracle plays and fallen while they were still standing.

And, indirectly, that was why SG-1, plus Cassie, was loitering outside in the snow on Christmas Eve. _Keeping secrets never works_, she was pretty well convinced of that now.

"Really shouldn't have had that last cup," Sam muttered into the collar of her coat. She was still trying to shake off the combined effects of the eggnog and the hot toddies she'd had over the course of the evening. She'd been planning to stay overnight all along, so she hadn't seen any reason to take it easy.

Jack, as king of the hangover cure, had already stocked the fridge with all the ingredients necessary to get everyone through Christmas morning. Not that they'd be getting into the house before then, because none of them had keys and Sam hadn't the slightest idea where her cell phone had gone. If she wasn't so cold, she wouldn't care; she'd just curl up against Jack and go to sleep. Not exactly an option right now.

As if he'd read her mind, her esteemed commanding officer ambled over to her in snow-caked boots and dropped his head on her frosty shoulder. It had to be an awkward position to be in, however minor the height differential, but he exhaled contently with his freezing nose tucked into the crook of her neck and she didn't have the heart to make him move.

"We're locked out," he murmured unnecessarily against her skin.

"Yup," she sighed and shuffled closer. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she returned the favor gladly. Shared body heat, decreased heat loss, whatever; she got to cuddle Jack O'Neill. Christmas had _so_ come early for Sam Carter.

"Nobody has a key." He was grousing and his growl sent a shudder through a body already mid-shiver.

"Nope."

"What was the point of giving you guys keys again?"

She turned her head so that she could see his lips, if not his eyes. "Don't remember, don't care." She kissed the line of his jaw and he shuddered.

"Good answer."

"Thought you'd agree," she smiled into the subtle kiss he pressed to her cheek. This was crazy, kissing in the cold like this. They should have been devising a scheme to get back into his house, where the fireplace was raging and cider was warm. This was a not a productive exercise of her already overtaxed mind. _Liar,_ said that little voice in the back of her head, and Sam could hardly argue with that. This was a better way to keep warm than most she'd been forced to try

"So, I'm guessing that huddle is only for two, then?"

Sam pouted in time with Jack and they separated just enough to see Daniel's icy brows reach for the starry night. Cassie had wrapped her arms around Teal'c, who was the closest thing to a sentient furnace any of them had ever met, and Daniel looked to be seriously questioning whether pride was a good enough reason not to cuddle a Jaffa. He looked like Jack Frost. Sam pitied him.

"Come here, Daniel."

He staggered over on stiff legs into her side and it was only her and Jack's intervention that kept him on his feet. Mimicking Jack's previous action, he tucked his nose into her neck. Now, she had goose bumps on top of goose bumps and not just because Jack had his hand under her coat again. A quick pinch served to remind him to behave. The cat was out of the bag, but she doubted it was done scratching yet.

"T, Cassie, get over here," Jack shouted over the sound of the wind. "We gotta come up with a plan."

Before long, the five of them—with Cassie nestled in the middle—had convened in a tight huddle, though there wasn't much planning going on. Not for the first time, Sam was inordinately glad for the collective broad-shouldered physiques of her teammates. They kept out the wind better than any windbreaker she'd worn off-world.

"So," her colonel started, ever the responsible CO, "any ideas?"

"O'Neill, I may be able to grant us re-entry into your place of residence."

Jack hesitated. "_Without_ destroying my front door?"

This time, Teal'c hesitated. "No."

"_Oookay_, anybody got a _less_ destructive idea?"

Sam perked up. "Well, I could…" She thought it over. Yeah, that particular doohickey was inside. No, that would involve doing irreparable harm to her Volvo and that was completely out of the question. Jack would kill her if she chose to dent the truck instead. "No, nevermind."

"Carter's out of ideas." He hummed disbelievingly. "I think we may be done for."

"We could call a locksmith," Cassie offered, muffled, from where face was pressed into the crook of Teal'c's arm.

"I do not believe we would be successful in procuring their assistance on Christmas Eve, Cassandra Fraiser."

"I agree with Teal'c," Daniel remarked with his suddenly clogged nose. "I think it's up to us."

"Okay, then. Ladies and gentlemen, we are five intergalactic space travelers stuck on our home planet in the snow. What do we do?" The four of them, three for certain and one Sam could only presume, stared at Jack as though he'd started spouting Ancient again. Sam shuddered. Once was more than enough. "Anybody? Bueller? Ferris Bueller?"

"O'Neill, I do not believe the one called Ferris Bueller is here."

Jack gave him a bland look, resisting his smirk the entire way. "Thanks for the heads-up, buddy. Anyway, we do what we'd do on any planet when things don't go according to plan."

Daniel rolled his head sideways onto Teal'c's shoulder, letting in a gust of snow Sam could have done without tasting. _I don't think I can feel my tongue anymore._

"And? So? Therefore?" Daniel intoned with a distinct lack of enlightenment. He was probably still the most intoxicated of all of them with Teal'c and Cassie being the least. Sam would be shocked if he was firing on _any_ cylinders.

"Why don't you leave the sarcasm to the professionals, Danny-boy. That's my line. But moving on, when the going gets tough, the tough call in for backup." He bumped her shoulder. "Right, Carter?"

Sam blinked, having spent the last twenty seconds watching Jack's mouth move, and then nodded. "Right, exactly. Yes, sir." She wasn't firing on so many cylinders herself, it seemed.

She was ignoring his self-satisfied smirk for the foreseeable future, also known as forever. Yes, he was good-looking enough to be distracting in the dead of winter. Whatever. He was going to be impossible to live with for the rest of the year.

"So, we'll call the base and have them send someone with a key." He shrugged as if it was that simple. "Somebody has to have one."

"Oh, and who else has the great Jack O'Neill entrusted with the key to his castle?"

_Oh, boy. _Daniel was definitely out of it. Sam hid her face in Jack's shoulder to keep from groaning in second-hand embarrassment and felt him stiffen in annoyance. There would be mockery and grumpiness for days. Seven years, give or taken an ascension, and Daniel still couldn't quite hold his liquor.

"Hammond," Jack grunted between clinched teeth.

_Thanks a lot, Daniel._ She sighed and it made her throat ache.

"And he's where," Daniel needled.

Cassie was quicker than Sam to intervene. "He's at home, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind having an airman bring Jack his key. In the spirit of Christmas and everything." She was getting to be a good diplomat in her old age, which was reasonable since she'd spent years watching her mother wrangle SG-1 into submission. She was getting scarily good at that, too.

"Sweet, who's got a phone?"

Sam immediately reached for her pockets again to do a more thorough search, and encountered her SGC access card and a short length of mechanical wire but no phone. _Okay, that's not good_, and she didn't just mean the mystery wire_._ She then remembered that her phone had become another casualty of their now-defunct secret. It was in the back of his nightstand, behind a decade-old pack of cigarettes, which was on the list of things he'd promised to finally dispose of in the New Year. She sighed again. She was doing a lot of that.

"I'm out," she admitted.

Daniel mumbled, "Mine isn't charged." He shook his four-month-old Nokia dejectedly. And he'd been doing so well with it thus far.

"I did not believe it necessary to carry it with me. It appears that I have erred."

Jack patted him companionably on the back. "Don't worry about it, buddy. Honest mistake."

Cassie slapped a gloved hand against her forehead. "I left mine on the coffee table. I was expecting a call." Sam suspected said call would have come from a certain recently reinstated ex-boyfriend, but now wasn't the time for that kind of revelation.

That left Jack's, which Sam admittedly didn't have high hopes for. She'd had to tinker with the thing for two hours after he sort of accidentally tossed it into the dishwasher when it rang at an inopportune moment. It worked, but they'd mutually agreed that it would have to be replaced. She was hoping someone upstairs was pulling for them, because she'd really hate to have to admit to the neighbors that they'd drunkenly locked themselves outside. They weren't really fans of Sam and Jack's as it was; something to do with them allegedly disturbing the peace on occasion and this wouldn't help matters.

"So, here's mine." He quickly handed the handset over to Sam as though he was afraid it would break in his hands. Sam wasn't totally sure it wouldn't explode if she pressed a number, but something had to be done. They were turning blue out here and there was no Janet to nurse them back to health anymore. They were on their own.

She dialed 6 for Hammond's private residence and waited patiently for the phone to ring and someone to answer. Patiently for someone who could no longer feel her feet anyway. When a voice she recognized from the last base picnic came on the line, she found herself telling the story from the very beginning. It was the general's daughter and one of Sam's old friends; she'd understand. If her snort was anything to go by, she already did. The call was brief, but filled with amused concern. The general was not only sending the key, he was bringing it personally. That, Sam hadn't counted on and had actually wanted to avoid. _Great._ She ended the call and handed the phone back to Jack.

"Well?"

With a wince, "The general's coming. He's decided to bring the key himself."

Daniel snorted and almost fell over. Sam committed to leaving him in the snow for at least thirty seconds if he did indeed land on his ass. She was so over drunk Daniel.

Their CO, and there was no doubt he was in CO mode now, glared. "Oh, that's just great." The sarcasm was sharp enough to sting.

"Hey," she snapped right back, "it wasn't my idea to build snow Jaffa, okay? I wanted to open presents, but you wanted to wait until tomorrow, so here we are with a bunch of half-done snow Jaffa and frostbite on our asses. Not. My. Fault. Got it?" She barreled on before he could respond, "Because if you don't get it, feel free to _bite me_ anytime now." She was cold, she was hungry, and she wanted her presents. What she wasn't anymore was drunk and, now, she really wanted to be.

"Somebody's touchy," Jack grumbled in lieu of a direct response. That was probably the best decision he'd made in the last hour, considering she was in arm's reach of his throat.

She growled under her breath and glared at the side of his face. "Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, we're dating now. Anybody got a problem with that?" She looked at the people she loved most in the world, huddled around her. They managed to find her eyes the way she'd find the eyes of an alien beast on the prowl with designs on making her a meal. No one looked away.

Daniel stared with ever-widening bloodshot eyes. "Nope, no problem." He pursed his lips immediately lest he said something else to provoke her. She had to chalk one up for drunk Daniel after all.

"Took them long enough," Cassie whispered to Teal'c in an undertone. "I mean, works for me," she corrected at Sam's sharp glance.

She turned to Teal'c, her brother-in-arms and frequent confidante. Cassie's potential rejection may have harmed them personally, but his had the potential to tear this team apart and that was exactly what they had been most afraid of.

"Teal'c, what about you? Do you think you can still trust us to act in the best interests of the team despite being in a personal relationship?"

With all the equanimity he had ever shown, Teal'c calmly swept his gaze between them. He was taking their measure, one at a time, then together. Contrary to her previous annoyance, Sam found herself reaching for Jack's gloved hand. She didn't want to lose this, not what she'd had or what she'd gained. But it was a chance, a risk that Janet had always warned her about. It was time to discover if that was something she could live with.

"Do you still care deeply about the war we wage?"

Sam nodded and Jack didn't appear to have a ready quip because he did the same.

"Do you still care for myself and Daniel Jackson as you have in the past?"

"Absolutely." Sam wasn't entirely sure which of them had said it, not that it mattered when they both agreed.

"Would you willingly sacrifice one another so that others might live?"

And wasn't that the defining moment. Sam still woke up some nights imagining that it had been Jack's memorial service she'd spoken at rather than Janet's. She woke up from realities where Jack never escaped Ba'al and he never came home. Realities where she someday met another person wearing his face on the battlefield and his was the life she had to take. She woke up shaken, having done the one thing he'd want of her and the thing that would break her heart. She'd never hesitated in the past or in dreams; she wouldn't now.

"Yes," she told him and the almost painful squeeze Jack gave her hand made the ache in her throat worthwhile. To do anything less than adhere to his wishes wouldn't be love.

Jack blew out a hot, humid breath and wet his lips. "What she said." He'd done this; he'd ended her life in the name of the greater good before. It had torn him apart for weeks and she'd been at a loss for how to soothe him. She still was—he had nightmares, too.

"You gotta understand. We are _completely_ devoted to the SGC and to you guys. If we do this," he wagged a finger between them, "and we realize we can't pull it off, we'll stop." He shrugged his shoulders as though it could really be that simple and she tried not to flinch at the implications. "Yeah, it'd suck and I admit it'd hurt pretty damn bad for a while, but when the rubber meets that road, we'd do it. You know why? Because we would _never_ do anything to jeopardize SG-1. Wouldn't happen. Believe me."

The last was said with such sincerity that Sam was forced to remember what convinced her to cross that line. It wasn't merely that life was short; it was that, however long it lasted, he would always be there for her, as comrade, commander, and friend. She had accepted that, she'd thought, until she nearly lost him and she did lose Janet. Then, it became unbearably clear to her that just having Jack O'Neill _somewhere_ in her life wasn't enough. She needed him in every part, even in the places he was never supposed to be.

"I love him, Teal'c. If I didn't, I wouldn't risk his career, or mine, to do this. I love him." _Please, let that be enough._ She felt the weight of Teal'c perusal as the force of gravity quadrupled on her shoulders. She'd had his respect for years, she couldn't imagine starting over again without it.

He inclined his chin suddenly and nodded. "Then, I wish you great happiness in your life together."

Jack closed his eyes and exhaled in relief. "Thanks, T. That means a lot."

Sam canted her head toward Jack. "What he said."

Teal'c had merely gifted them with his usual understated smile when they heard a car makes its way down to their end of Jack's dead end road. As far as Sam could tell, most of the people who were visiting the neighborhood for the holidays had come and few rarely came this far anyway. Although she knew Hammond was on his way, it never paid to be lax.

Without thinking, Sam rounded Teal'c, putting herself between whoever was arriving and her teammate, who still kept Cassie so close. She absently noted Jack doing the same, placing himself slightly ahead of all of them per his usual off-world routine. Presumably, it was because it gave him the opportunity to assess any possible danger; Sam had a feeling he did it because he considered himself the most expendable and thought that in placing himself in more jeopardy, he might be placing them in less. He could the sweetest idiot when he wanted to be.

The nondescript dark sedan rolled to the foot of Jack's driveway and sat idle for a long while. Sam wondered if Hammond was watching from the inside, trying to differentiate human (and Jaffa) from snow Jaffa. She hoped he was having better luck than she was. She remained painfully aware of the temperature. Finally, the driver side door opened and a harried-looking young airman hustled toward the back of the car. He was dressed for the weather and still freezing. Sam would have sympathized if her sympathy hadn't already frozen solid. When the airman pulled the door open and a familiar portly figure appeared, Sam could have cheered, definitely would have if she could actually lift her arms above her head.

Jack looked at her askance, appearing decidedly amused at all the enthusiasm she couldn't physically muster. She'd show him enthusiasm later, after they made sure the house didn't burn down and that nothing…pertinent was going to fall off. She wasn't sure at this point, since she couldn't actually feel thirty-five percent of her body anymore.

Rubbing his hands together vigorously, Jack headed off to meet their CO without looking back. Sam didn't hesitate to follow, knowing the others would as well. Hammond was rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed, like he'd stepped right out of a toasty bed to face the wrath of Mother Nature for their sake. They were really going to have to do better than giving him an overpriced pen for Christmas next year. She was already busy considering their options when Jack launched into a highly-edited rendition of their evening. When he reached its conclusion, the general hardly looked surprised.

He started to speak at one point, but then simply surrendered with a gust of a sigh. Sam could feel his soft chuckle reverberating in the brisk air and that was something she understood. This had been the most SG-1 mishap possible. Other people got their cars trapped in the snow; other people got stranded off-world for the holidays. SG-1 got stranded on-world for the holidays. She decided to consider it lucky they hadn't gotten arrested for loitering, that would have been worse and she didn't doubt for a moment that Jack's neighbors had considered it. _Every place I've ever lived, my neighbors loved me –until I joined SG-1._ She'd been making enemies ever since.

"This is quite a pickle you and your team have gotten yourself into, Colonel." The 'again' went kindly unspoken.

"Yes, sir. Guess you could say we just got caught up in the spirit of the season, sir." _'Spirits' being the operative word_, Sam thought, and the general agreed if his unconvinced expression was anything to go by. But Jack was playing up his nonchalance for all it was worth and Hammond seemed happy to go along. _Less paperwork for him_ and she knew that ranking officers were glad for any chance to avoid the stuff.

"Well, be a little more careful, son. The season is too damned cold to stay outside for long." Sam got the impression from his resigned tone that he'd repeated a similar warning to his granddaughters ad nauseam already. _We are as responsible adolescents, how reassuring._

"Yes, sir," the colonel retorted quick and easy, like some of _his_ pertinent parts weren't in danger of vanishing due to extreme shrinkage. She had to give him credit for that Oscar-worthy performance. "We promise to be a lot more careful in the future, sir. But, General, if you don't mind, we really kind of _need_ to get indoors, now. There are unnatural force strength reductions happening to my person, sir."

Sam dropped her face into her hands, to hide her embarrassment and stifle the laughter. Other than Cassie's soundless tittering occurring in the periphery, she was the only one. Evidently, 'force strength reductions' were a big deal as far as men were concerned. _And they say women are sensitive._

The general cleared his throat delicately and produced the brass copy of Jack's house key from his coat pocket. Jack looked for all the world like he could have kissed him when he laid it in his hand. For a man with a pair of bum knees, he was out of earshot in seconds, leaving Sam with the dubious honor of thanking their commanding officer for going to all this trouble.

It had been a good, cold, weird night and he'd brought it to a necessary end. So, instead of using words, she hugged him; with stiff, creaking bones, she embraced her dad's old friend as she hadn't since she was a girl, when every man in uniform was one step closer to her perpetually-absent father. She wasn't hugging a proxy this time, but the right man, the real deal. And he hugged her back.

When the chill in her bones intruded again, Sam made herself let go. "Thank you, sir. For coming through for us."

He was still rosy-cheeked, but she wasn't sure the wind was still to blame. He nodded briefly at her, "That's what family's for, Major."

And Sam was momentarily shocked to realize that that may have been the first time anyone had said it. They were family, in life and in death, on Earth as in Ne'tu, as anywhere else. It had always gone without saying and she saw now that perhaps it shouldn't have.

"Yes, sir, it is." She dug her hands into her pockets and sucked impatiently on her chapped bottom lip. Jack would be back as soon as he made sure everything was normal inside and he laid hands on his master keys. Then, she guessed Hammond would go home, they'd all head in and bed down, and Christmas Day would come as inevitably as a new blanket of snow from the sky. It was a far cry from Christmases past; not nearly wrong and, yet, not quite right either.

Jack suddenly appeared at his front door, looking a lot less…notably diminished. Sam winced as her lips cracked when she tried to smile at the sight of him. She'd had as much of the great Colorado winter as she could stand by now. She just wanted to do one more thing...

"General, sir, did you want to come in for a drink before you start back?" She noted Jack's surprise by the abrupt hitch in the steady fall of his steps. He shook it off and came to occupy his old place at her side, the back his hand innocuously bumping her thigh.

The general glanced between them, then to the rest of the team and Cassie behind them. Daniel was positively dancing until Jack waved him and Cassie back toward the loving warmth Sam could just about touch. The archaeologist sent the general hasty but heartfelt thanks on his way in. Cassie bounced up to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him on the cheek, then followed Daniel's example. Teal'c stayed and stood, steady as she goes.

"Sorry about that, General. We all just about froze our a—you know, it got pretty cold." The general wasn't quite as successful at hiding his amusement this time.

"Say no more, Jack. Besides, it's the holidays; no need to stand on ceremony tonight."

"No, sir," Jack agreed, handing back the key he'd brought with him. "Can't thank you enough for the save, General. If not for this key, you might have been bailing us out of lockup come New Year's."

Skipping the two of them entirely, the general looked speculatively at Teal'c. "Is this something I _want_ to know?"

Teal'c returned the look steadily and answered, "I do not believe so."

The general held up both hands in denial before her colonel could go farther or Sam could begin damage control. He was so on the list for that.

"Then, I don't need to know." Returning his focus to Sam alone, he laid his hands on her shoulders. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass on that drink, but maybe another time." Without saying so, she promised to ask again. He dropped his hands and turned to address the three of them collectively. "I expect you all to stay in one piece for the next seven days, people. There'll be plenty of opportunity for you to get up to your usual shenanigans once you get back to the mountain."

"So, no more shenanigans, sir," Jack just had to ask. Sam stamped on his foot. He grunted and hopped a few feet away. She winced as pins and needles shot up and down the offending limb. _Traitor._

"We got it, sir," she filled in for her swearing CO. "We'll behave ourselves." Eyes on the man who resembled a sulky teenager more than an imposing warrior who false gods feared and advanced races—mostly—respected, Hammond's expression wasn't the greatest vote of confidence the team had ever gotten. _He's right, we're doomed_, but she'd be damned if she'd she show it. "You have my word, sir."

He conceded, with some unspoken reservations. "Then, that's all I need to hear, Major." He rubbed his leather-gloved hands together and blew into them. "On that note, I'll leave you folks to what's left of your evening. I've got two very excitable granddaughters to trick into sleeping before Santa comes to town." He twinkled, as he always did, at the mention of the girls and she wished them all the best. "Merry Christmas, SG-1."

Her colonel came limping and muttering back. "Merry Christmas, sir," they echoed as one.

"Glad tidings, General Hammond," Teal'c eloquently bade. Not even from Earth and he remained one of the best-spoken men she'd had the privilege to know.

The general tugged his scarf, tipped his driving cap, and disappeared back into his requisitioned car. He was gone mere moments later and Sam was left to conclude that her feet had turned into blocks of ice. She stared down at the useless, numb things and found herself too tired to sigh. The cold had completely sapped any desire for further celebration out of her.

"Yo, T, I think Carter's about had it. Think you can get her inside before she falls on her face in the snow?"

"Indeed."

_Leave it to the boys to collude for my own good._ She was experienced enough to know she'd left it too long out here.

"Okay, let's take her in. We'll warm her up in front of the fireplace and call it night. Whaddaya say?"

_Leave it to Jack to have thought this through. _ She could have been affronted that he wouldn't try it himself, but she knew his knees and her own stature. Landing in a pile of contorted limbs on the hard ground wouldn't do any good for either of them.

"I am in agreement with this course of action."

"Sweet. On three."

Sam gave a shuddering welcome when Teal'c eased up beside her, well within her line of sight. She gave him a weak smile to let him know that she really was okay and that she was also okay with this. It was a warrior thing. Where pride and necessity warred, there was still consent. She gave hers freely to these men.

"Three, two, one."

Teal'c hooked one arm around the back of her legs and the other at her lower back and carefully lifted her off her feet. Her joints popped angrily at the shift in position and she winced. _Smack the next person to suggest snow Jaffa, no matter who it is._ She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and curled up as close to his swirling heat as she could. If it was a start, Jack's hand curled around hers was the saga continued. The short walk found her nodding off so that she barely felt herself being set down near the fireplace. She was asleep long before she was warm again.

It was Christmas by the time she woke up. She knew that by the incessant ticking of her internal clock and the anemic gray light beaming through the windows. There were gifts stacked under the tree they'd decorated, wrapped with varying degrees of finesse. But they were all wrapped, as Jack would have been quick to point out, and she couldn't argue with even marginal success.

Her first attempt to sit up was hampered by a lanky weight around her waist. She hadn't noticed initially, too distracted was she with getting her bearings, but she couldn't have missed him twice. While she slept, they'd apparently auditioned to play spoons with Jack being cast as big spoon and she the oblivious little one. That said, he wasn't so much curled up with her as wrapped around her: his legs between and crossed over hers, one hand fisted around the hem of her shirt while the other rested snug against her ribs, and his unshaven face laid slack on the curve of her shoulder. If she didn't love him so much, she might have been vaguely horrified. Instead she put off greeting the day a while longer and settled back into his arms. He released an unconscious sigh without waking up at all.

They were tucked together into a cocoon of blankets and pillows, so close a whisper of wind couldn't have parted them if it dared. She noted the soft worn feel of his pajama bottoms and his Academy tee on her skin. She couldn't tell what he was wearing, but imagined it was something similar. This was how she felt safest, swamped by his clothes, by his smell, by him, and he knew that. Here, the cold was little but a memory. He'd been her living electric blanket all night, had chased away the frost with his own body. Now that she was awake, that body was pleasant to the touch.

Although Jack wasn't much of a compact sleeper, he wasn't prone to playing octopus with her person without realizing he was doing so. The more time they spent together, the more she came to see that he wasn't exactly the simple man her subconscious had led her to believe. Everything he did was for a reason and, when it came to the two of them, the reason was usually her. _And he's my reason_, she admitted in return, however mushy a sentiment it might have been. She lightly rubbed her toes against his ankle. The hand along her side gently clinched. He was awake, probably had been all along, and he wasn't ready to let go yet.

At this moment, on this Christmas morning, that didn't bother her all. This was Jack: all practical affection instead of flowery crap she could do without. Her being content to wake up next to him was all her; she couldn't see asking for anything else. She was warm, she was with him, and their family was sleeping safely nearby. The world as they knew it was standing still and, for a moment, everything was fine. She may not have had every person she could have dreamed of with her, but none of them far from her thoughts on the happiest day of the year. And it _was_ the happiest day of the year. She should know.


End file.
